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Thursday, March 15, 2012

From the Ashes of Apocalypse: Where does the Star Wars Expanded Universe go after Fate of the Jedi?

Troy Denning's recently release Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse concludes the latest nine-book mega-series and sets up some potential story lines for future Expanded Universe novels to explore. What are some of these potential plots and how would I like to see them explored? Keep reading to find out, but be aware, massive spoilers will be discussed below.

*SPOILERS BELOW*

1) Chume'da/Jedi Queen Allana Djo Solo

One of the major subplots of both the Fate of the Jedi series and it's predecessor the Legacy of the Force series is the destiny of Allana Djo Solo, the daughter of Jacen Solo and Hapan Queen Tenel Ka.

Apocalypse leaves the secret identity and the fact that Allana survived the Second Galactic Civil War revealed to all. The Lost Tribe of the Sith learns from Vestara Khai of Allana's identity as the Jedi Queen seen in a vision by High Lord Sarasu Taalon. It can also be assumed from the ending of the novel that the most likely destination for Vestara and Ship is with the One Sith. So potentially the One Sith will be aware of the vision of a Jedi Queen and Allana's identity as that Queen of vision making her a big target.

The closing scenes of Apocalypse also have an official coming out of Allana, being announced as the Chume'da during the wedding ceremony of Jag and Jaina. It also sets up future plans for Allana, where her time will be split between spending it with her Mom and at the new Jedi Temple on Shedu Maad.

It would be interesting to see Allana's Jedi training on Shedu Maad. Could this be set up for another young adult or young reader series in the same vein as the Young Jedi Knights or Junior Jedi Knights series? On the other hand it could simply be a recurring subplot in the adult fiction line, visited upon when it makes sense for the stand-alone book or series purposes.

2) Jag and Jaina's Honeymoon

A lot of fans really enjoy the couple novels, whether it is the adventures of Luke and Mara or the adventures of Han and Leia, heck on of my favorite books is I, Jedi which in the end is all about Corran Horn trying to rescue his wife Mirax.

Now we have an interesting situation with Jaina's elevation to Master and Jag's Imperial burden being lifted from his shoulders. Will Jaina take an apprentice? Will Jaina and Jag spend some time traveling, spending time together and away from the craziness of the galaxy at large? It would be cool to see a story focused on Jaina and Jag trying to go away on a honeymoon, only to stumble upon some minor adventure or crisis that they can solve.

3) Imperial Politicial thriller with Jag re-assuming power

Well Apocalypse certainly leaves some interesting connections to be made between this era of publishing and Dark Horse Comics' Legacy series. If Jag Fel is no longer Imperial Head of State, then how does the Fel line of Emperor's come about. Does Vitor Reige become the first Fel Emperor and merely take the name "Fel" as an honorific to pay tribute to the man that paved his way to power. In ancient Rome, the name of Caeser became a title that every Emperor used. Or will some crisis occur that leads Fel back to stabilize the Empire and assume the throne?

I am not sure which direction they will go, but I am very intrigued and I think now would be a good time for a two or three book series set in the Imperial Remnant.

4) Tahiri establishing the Imperial Knights

The fate of Tahiri, who is one of my personal favorite characters is one I am very interested in reading. For a supporting character, she got a ton of page time in Fate of the Jedi. Denning did an interesting job in telling the story, as an Imperial prisoner and Force-sensitive bodyguard for Jag Fel, you could easily see her future in Imperial service. On the other hand in her role in the Barabel rescue she is referred to by Master Sebatyne as "Jedi Veila," presumably marking the Jedi Order's forgiveness and acceptance of her within their ranks.

Tahiri is once again a character at a cross-roads with two viable choices ahead of her. To me the more intriguing choice would be for her to join the Empire and be the one to establish the Imperial Knights.

5) What are the One Sith up to?

While his identity is not called out specifically, the appearance of Darth Krayt was a huge connecting link between this series and the Dark Horse Comics series. While the One Sith had appeared briefly in Legacy of the Force as well as Paul S. Kemp's Jaden Korr novels, this marks the One Sith as potentially a big bad for the SWEU for a new trilogy or even spanning multiple series.

6) A Ben Skywalker novel

After reading the evolution of the Ben Skywalker character in the last two series, I think it is high time for Ben to get a book where he is the focus on his own adventure without his father being involved. Give the character a real chance to breath as a young adult outside of his father's shadow.

I don't have an obvious mission or story idea for Ben, but I think something interesting could be crafted.

7) Hunt for Kesh

The dead Sith corpse in the room, is what exactly the Jedi intend to do about the Lost Tribe of the Sith. The Jedi need some serious intelligence on this group and it strikes me that locating the planet Kesh is an essential mission for the Jedi to undertake.

8) Rescue of Raynar Thul

Poor Raynar Thul, finally pretty much healed physically and mentally from his time as UnuThul as a Killik joiner, Raynar is forced to potentially doom himself to that fate again to get the information the Jedi needed to stop Abeloth.

Will Raynar or the Killiks resist the Jedi's attempts to rescue Raynar. Will the Chiss become involved or catch wind of this. There are some interesting storytelling possibilities for this.

9) New Jedi Temple/Academy establishing story line

I know sometimes the Jedi Academy Trilogy gets trashed, but the idea of the Jedi Academy in some ways is more entertaining then the Master-Apprentice system that later EU books have returned to. It's Harry Potter with lightsabers guys. I wouldn't mind a return to more of a Jedi Academy instead of Jedi Temple feel on Shedu Maad. I would love to see the introduction of a new generation of young Jedi to follow.

10) A return to Mandalore

Boba Fett, the Fett Nanovirus, and Mandalorian continuity are all things I want to read more about. Unfortunately anything involving the Mandalorians may have to wait until after The Clone Wars animated series. I want more Fett, I want more of the Null ARCs and Republic Commandos. There is no reason to expect Imperial Commando II to be resurrected at this point, but It would be interesting to revisit these characters again after Fate of the Jedi.

11) The Hunt for the Mortis Monolith

Is this Troy Denning's Outbound Flight? Denning sends ten Jedi Knights in StealthX's out in search of the Mortis Monolith and the Dagger of Mortis. Will this be an open mission that continues until Mortis is found, or will it eventually be abandoned. Will we actually have a story featuring the finding of Mortis and the return of Abeloth? I tend to think, floating tentacles aside, that Abeloth won't resurface for a long while. But I wonder what other mysteries or adventures Mortis could hold. Conveniently it was never mentioned whom the Jedi Knights were who left on this mission, leaving their ultimate fate very up in the air.

12) Han, Leia and the Millennium Falcon's Empty Nest

With Allana dropping her false identity as Amelia, and returning to her mother, Han and Leia are left in an interesting position. What do Han and Leia do now that all their kids and grand daughter are out of the house, do they simply walk off into retirement and settle at Casa de Tatooine? Do they stay aboard the repaired (for the one trillionth time) Falcon and travel the galaxy? What is in store for these two? I have no idea but I have a feeling we will be seeing them and of course the droids again.

In the end Apocalypse left us with a ton of potential story lines in the Expanded Universe, these are just a few of the ones that stuck out at me. What stories or characters are you looking forward to seeing set in the post-Fate of the Jedi time period?

20 comments:

Something tells me Jaina is going to have just as much, if not more, to do with the Imperial Knights as Tahiri.

And Legacy did establish that Jag was the first New Emperor, so he gets back in there some how.

And I personally think Ben has a rather obvious mission to undertake. I believe his girlfriend is missing? And you brought up who I'm betting heavily she ran to in the point right above Ben's Novel. (sidenote: I am NOT happy with how Ben and Vestara's relationship is looking right now)

These are all cool ideas! I like the idea of Tahiri starting the imperial knights- she seems more in line with how they end up than Jaina does.

One thing I will say is that it seems that- like it or not- we are finally going to enter an era where the next generation is taking over. I think our new "big three" are Jaina , Ben and Allana. I'm sure Luke, Leia and Han will still be around, but Ben's vision made it pretty clear that the next generation's time has come. I am excited for this, although I'm sure many won't be.

Of all these plot lines, I'm most excited for a long, lasting Ben vs. Vestara dynamic. I am so glad they ended up keeping her as an evil Sith and I can't wait to watch Ben deal with hunting after her!

Well I must say that I'm also very sad about Ben's relationship with Ves, but I hope they will sort it out, she reminds me of Mara a lot. And have you noticed that Skywalker family kinda rules the Galaxy? Allana Djo Solo on Hapan Throne, Descendants od Jaina Solo are sitting on imperial throne and Skywalkers are Grand Masters of Jedi ? I can't wait for more future novels.

PS And I Especialy wait for more novels about Luke and Mara by Timothy Zahn, this guy is a genius :D

I hope Timothy Zahn does a Ben Skywalker novel set post-FOTJ where he has an adventure in the Unknown Regions and teams up with a clone of Thrawn and/or the Empire of the Hand and battles a new threat in the UR and/or the remaning terrors there and returns to Zonama Sekot. In the Unifying Force Luke says to Mara he's destined to be there. Pehaps if Zahn does that Skywalker family with Luke,Mara and Ben set before Legacy of the Force it could tie into the Post-FOTJ adult Ben book where the Skywalkers have an adventure in the Unknown Regions and meet the Thrawn clone and/or meet up with the Empire of the Hand.

A'Sharad Hett trilogy! 1st novel takes place in the Clone Wars following the fate of his father, and A'Sharad's survival of Order 66.... 2nd novel is about his exile to Tatooine, his duel with Obi-Wan, and his eventual capture by the Yuuzhan Vong, culminating in his becoming Darth Krayt..... 3rd novel takes place after the Yuuzhan Vong War, his creation of the One Sith, his watchfulness of Lumiya, Caedus and Alema Rar, and culminating in his assisting Luke during the struggle against Abeloth.

Well with that vision Ben had near the end of the book. You have to wonder what is going to happen to his younger cousin. Her reactions to what was happening are quite disturbing. I'm so hoping that its not like Father like daughter. Have to see how it plays out.

I was really disappointed with the way they handled Vestara and Ben's relationship. It crushed my heart that I watched Vestara grow toward being redeemed by a person she grew to care about, only for it to end in the same novel. If they were going to do such a betrayal, they should have had Vestara redeemed earlier on in the series, than fall towards the end.

I really hope that she makes a return in a future series, along with Ben, again as a person Ben seeks to redeem, even at the risk of his own life.

i think vestara and ben will have to come along and play a bigger part in the books, i did find it funny how luke could find it to try for mera, yet with vestara he couldnt really, they both grew up more or less with the darkside and when you think about it she did try to change even if only for ben mostly. so given time i hope they can maria was one of my fav and i came to like ves just as much she good for ben and him for her. so be nice to see more of them even if agasint one another for a while. plus ill admit i like ben more then his father .

I will argue that the Imperial Knights will fill up a role equivalent to the Father of the Mortis Monolith, In fact, who is to say that the search for Mortis might inadvertently cross over into the foundation of the Imperial Knights themselves? Under the light side dark side dichotomy, the Imperial Knights are problematic, but seen in light of Mortis, the Imperial Knights may be the key to breaking the cycle of Jedi Purge, Sith ascendancy, great Galatic

I keep seeing how people are upset with how Vestara played out. Why?!? 1.) You think Ben and Vestara are supposed to be happily ever after right this moment - before either of them are 18? Vestara is NOT Mara. Her storyline does not have to mimic Mara's to be intriguing. Plus, Mara and Luke went their separate ways for years once they first reconciled. Mara was off with Lando after leaving Talon Karrde, then went for temporary training with Luke at the Jeri Temple before she called him out for being overly enthralled with Kyle Durron. Thepoint is, that Vestara's story has only just begun. And Ben and Vestara are more interesting when they're on opposite sides of the fence - not happily ever after mush slop.

i'd like to see wedege and co re-group for a continuation of the xwing series, maybe a reunioin that goes bad..... maybe along the lines of tur phennir killing bror jase and the rest of the team go hunting him, maybe resulting in them going rouge, but something that doesn't involve luke and co

i'd like to see the imperial knights formed, rough idea jaden korr in his solo mission discovers the empire is re-arming, he takes the info to the jedi and republic and gets told its nothing. he then goes to jag and jaina who with his help investigate, this results in jag taking control of the empire becoming emperor and jaina and kor form the imperial knights.... then as a continuation of that story how the jedi deal with the "betrayal" of the sword of the jedi and the forming of the knights.... setting up for not a war but espionage and stuff betwee the two groups as they both set about whats right for there respective state.... oh and the empire were re-arming coz the chiss are getting hammered by the rearming of the vong

In many ways the penultimate book in a large series is the most difficult to write. The author must begin the process of weaving th...

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